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Introduction

Published: March 31, 2005

This blueprint provides design guidance for an implementation of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, and presents information that can be used by organizations to design and deliver mission-critical services on an enterprise-class Web application system infrastructure. It should be noted that this documentation is provided for reference purposes only, and is meant to be coupled with expertise in IIS 6.0 and Web application design before it is used to implement IIS to meet specific business needs.

Additional information about application architecture can be found in the Application Infrastructure Architecture Blueprint. Specific implementation details are provided in the Web Application Services Planning Guide.

Who Should Read This Blueprint

This blueprint is intended for information technology (IT) professionals who have the responsibility for designing and deploying Web application services in enterprise environments. The reader of this blueprint is expected to have an understanding of the technical details provided in this service-level guidance; however, service-level expertise is not necessarily needed to understand the enterprise-level discussions and decisions that are made.

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Knowledge Prerequisites

Although this blueprint is designed to benefit anyone who is interested in understanding the various aspects of implementing IIS-based Web application services, it is assumed that the reader has some knowledge and understanding of the following:

•	IIS 6.0
•	Web applications
•	Operating system and server hardware

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Business Need

Organizations with varying responsibilities and business functions are increasingly facing the need to provide Web-based services for users within the enterprise, other data centers, and the outside world. To provide these services, they need to deploy Web server-based architectures that are highly available, secure, and scalable. In addition, such architectures should lend themselves to monitoring and auditing, as well as the ability to absorb changes without significantly affecting the services they provide.

Web application services provide the enterprise with a mechanism for offering an application interface on the Web. This interface may be for external customers, as is the case for Internet-based service organizations, or for internal Web applications that share information and workflow among various teams or with partners.

The following scenarios are typical in that they represent the kinds of functionality that many of today's organizations need to provide. The list, though far from complete, provides an insight into the amalgamation of Web-based technologies along with the mode and type of services offered by an organization.

•	E-Commerce application (Internet Business): A typical e-commerce site provides information about products and services that the organization offers. E-commerce sites must be highly available (because non-availability translates to loss of business), secure (to provide transactional services that include billing and shipping), and scalable (so that they can absorb increases in the number of users that occur from service growth and seasonal increases in business).
•	Organization Web presence: The organization hosts a public-facing site that provides information about products and services as well as contact information about themselves and partners. This information is usually used by search engines to promote business and target wider audiences.
•	Intranet Web sites: These are Web applications running within the enterprise to provide employees with services that enable them to collaborate and share knowledge, coordinate efforts across teams, and perform administrative and corporate tasks. These services must be secure and easy to use.
•	Offline sales support: Sales department employees can access sales data through Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, and tablet computers using secure wireless or vendor network technology. This capability allows sales personnel to obtain access to sales information anywhere and at any time, providing the organization with updated information for better business responsiveness.
•	Partner interface: Organizations need to provide an interface for exchanging information and managing joint or collaborative ventures with their business partners, including the ability to upload and download information in a secure and reliable manner.
•	Custom applications: Most organizations require new services to integrate with existing or custom systems, which may be based on obsolete technologies that cannot be migrated from in a cost effective manner. For example, there may be custom content management systems that need to be integrated with Web-based services.

These scenarios call for Web-centric solutions that offer services with different levels of availability, security, scalability, and performance. In addition to having these characteristics, the environment should be cost-effective, adaptable to change, and a good fit with the organization’s vision and business objectives.

It is a challenging task to provide Web-based services for enterprise-class organizations that have centralized offices as well as branch offices, and that need to share information with business partners and customers.

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References

This section provides links to reference information that is helpful in understanding the Web application service design process.

•	.NET framework and application interaction with IIS: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators/msit/default.mspx
•	Building Secure ASP.NET Applications: msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetsec/html/secnetlpMSDN.asp?frame=true
•	Documentation for IIS: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech/IIS.mspx
•	Information on using Network Load Balancing for load balancing Web servers: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/acs/reskit/acrkappb.mspx
•	Information on improving performance of ASP applications: msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnasp/html/asptips.asp
•	Creating a metabase backup using IIS 6.0: support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B324277
•	Building a Secure .NET Infrastructure: msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnw2kmag01/html/securenet.asp
•	Information on cryptography support in Windows Server 2003: msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/security/security/cryptography_portal.asp
•	Web and Application Services in Windows Server 2003: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/webapp /default.mspx
•	Using SSL technologies like bridging and tunneling: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/isa/2000/proddocs/isadocs/cmt_sslauth.mspx
•	Web Services Security: msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnglobspec/html/ws-security.asp
•	Advantages of Windows Server 2003: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/developers/top10fordevs.mspx
•	Sample applications for benchmarking: msdn.microsoft.com/net/compare/default.asp

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Introduction

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Who Should Read This Blueprint

Knowledge Prerequisites

Business Need

References

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